Japan Centre offers help for exporters

Press, 26 June 1978, Page 4

Japan Centre offers help for exporters

Businessmen in Christchurch who are looking towards Japan as a potential export market might gain from using the services of the Japan Centre, in the Arts Centre.

| The Japan Centre was | formed two years ago in I Christchurch by a group of people interested in New Zealand-Japan relations, particularly with a view to helping the business community with language difficulties, problems with different customs, or any other barriers that might : arise when looking for trade 'with Japan. From its headquarters on the first floor of the Arts Centre, just inside the Worcester Street entrance, the centre runs a library and education service. It proi vides teaching aids for j schools wanting to learn Japanese language, customs and geography, as well as numerous texts about various business interests in Japan. ' According to the Japan j Centre’s public relations | officer (Mr M. E. Dormer) j I the teaching aids and library! I services have been in con-! jsiderable demand, but the; I business community has! I been slow to use its fac-1 ilities.

“One of our problems seems to be the complacency of the local business people,” he said. “There is a tremendous opportunity to export to. Japan, and we would like them to know about our service and use it to help them get into the I market there and overcome any language difficulties or other problems.”

Mr Dormer said that many exporters had learnt the hard way, “going it alone” in a country, but this was no longer necessary. “Usually it’s not until they find themselves in a bit of a jam that they realise

.they should have had some help or advice instead of trying to do it all by themselves,” he said. Canterbury manufacturers and businesses wishing to export to Japan stand to gain from the centre, as it is ’ an exclusively Christchurch j organisation. Although plans are afoot to expand into other centres, these are not I likely to come to fruition for some time. “We have a lot of tourists 'who pop in to the centre to find out things, and our services are in heavy demand for educational aids, but we hope that the business side i of our service will see more :demand in the future,” said Mr Dormer. The Japan Centre-was the '“brainchild” of Messrs J. R. Maddren, H. Beattie, J. S. Pallot and G. W. Kitson, and [several others. Six months after its inception, the centre was set up in its present offices in the Arts Centre with a library and a part-time staff member, Mrs N. Southern', who runs the [Office arid library between 11.30 a.ms and 2.30 p.m. every week-day. Most of the 13 executive members of the! venture have been to Japan on business. Mr Pallot, who! iis the secretary, speaks' Japanese fluently. The centre runs a trans-! !lation service, both from and into Japanese, and provides j interpreters for visiting Japanese businessmen. The library contains up-to-date trade directories and stocks the centre’s periodical publication (called “Japan Intelligence”) which is about marketing, economics and Japanese business in general. Marketing surveys made in Japan are available for ; studv.

As w,ell as emphasising the need to educate young people in Japanese . language and customs, the. centre

J helps to promote youth exf change visits between the ■ two countries. In all its work, the Japan > Centre has received support > from the Japanese Founda- ) tion in Tokyo, a Japanese > cultural organisation run by 1 the Government there to ; promote Japan overseas. > — —